This is an exploration of how Kouga’s inks and composition show character and mood in the first volume of Loveless.  The art style shifts with point of view and interactions, building into a powerful visual language.

I have mixed feelings about Loveless. It’s a hot mess in a lot of ways. The story contains horrible child abuse of various kinds, including some that is institutionalized and some that is family, various reprehensible relationships, some seriously broken people, a couple of sociopaths, BDSM themes (both consensual and not), dubious portayals of motives of people who ought to be villains but might not be, amnesia, innapropriate information about sexuality, and some of the most heartbreaking and beautiful characters I’ve ever read.

All this in a cat boy story about preteens.  Oh, manga.
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